This blog is all about my little seed farm in Victoria, Australia. Follow my progress as I grow and sell rare, unusual and heritage vegetable seed for local seed companies.
I have nearly ten acres now of urban farm, using empty house blocks as well as a small rural block. Check in often to see what I am up to.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Market, first seedling iris, and native orchids

I am just back from two days at a market at the tiny town of Apsley. I had seeds and tuberous veg for sale on my stall and sold nearly $400 worth. I camped overnight in my marquee and had the entertainment of a great local rock n roll band in the hall last night. The band was so fantastic that I went to the door and bought a ticket even though I didn't go in because I was still being entertained by them in my swag. In two weeks.
I have another two day market in Horsham which is said to be a very big festival. I just hope I have enough seed packets to sell.

Two years ago I hand pollinated a couple of my mothers bearded iris flowers and ended up with two pods of seeds. They were pretty fancy coloured flowers so I was hopeful for some interesting seedling plants.

The first seedling opened its flower on friday. It is just a dull dark purple but the next one that will open maybe tomorrow is lighter so might be a more interesting colour. There are a couple more plants with buds about to open but so far they look like basic dark flowers like this one.

I got 26 plants so I am hoping that some of the later ones will have a lot more colour.

It is so exciting to have your own seedlings starting to flower and each day I rush out to see if there are more buds with colour to see if they will be different. What fun, I think I will pollinate a few more this year.

On the way back from Apsley I decided to stop and take a picture of some of our Australian native orchids. The ones you find in this part of the country are nothing like the large and fancy orchids that most people are familiar with. OUrs are tiny and delicate and grow on the ground.

Some of our orchids are pretty ugly and named after insects that the flowers resemble - like gnat or mosquito orchids adn they don't even look anything like orchids, but many of the dozens of types you find around here are colourful and interesting.

Here are three that I found just a few steps from my car, a pretty pink, a light purple and a donkey orchid (one of my favourites) - it looks like it has donkey ears.

Our native orchids come in many colours and types.

If any Australians are reading this post I heartily recommend that you visit a little place called Mt Monster, which is between Bordertown and Keith in SA. It is a tiny bit of bush on the top of a hill that has the highest concentration of orchids that I have ever seen. In September you can look out at the ground just carpeted with all colours of spider orchids as well as a huge number of others. A 10 minute walk will allow you to see at least a couple of dozen different sorts. Mt Monster is the only place I have ever been where I have seen a fire orchid out in flower. That place is absolutely amazing.

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About Me

I live in Victoria, Australia. I used to travel with my pack donkeys and live in the Australian bush but now that I am settled in a small town I am working for myself growing unusual fruits and vegetables.
I have started a small market garden to sell fresh heirloom fruit and veg at the local markets.